Mara McGuin would
rather swim than row. As a freshman on the crew club team at the University
of North Carolina at Charlotte, McGuin realized she would rather be in
the water than rowing on top of it. A standout swimmer at River Forest
High School in Oak Park, Ill., McGuin decided to transfer to Calvin two
years ago in order to get back into the pool.

"I really missed
swimming during my first year of college," said McGuin. "I was
at a Division I school at the time so I knew that my chances of swimming
at that level weren't very good. I knew that Calvin was a place where
I could have that opportunity."

McGuin's fit at Calvin
was immediate, particularly among the swim team.

"The atmosphere
on our (men's and women's) teams is very supportive. I found that out
right away," she said. "I was accepted immediately and treated
like I had been a member of the team all along."

McGuin also fit immediately
into Calvin's lineup as she filled slots in the butterfly and IM events.
At the 2001 MIAA Championships, McGuin took third in the 200 IM and 200
butterfly along with a fifth place performance in the 200 butterfly earning
a spot on the All-MIAA team. Her efforts helped Calvin finish with a first
place total of 552 points as the Knights captured their first-ever MAA
title.

"Winning the
MIAA title was awesome," said McGuin. "It was a total team effort
and I think that the unity of our team played a big role in our team's
success."

McGuin cited the
team's training trip to Florida over Christmas break as important in the
bonding of the team. "We were training in an outdoor pool and the
weather while we were there was unusually cold. It was around 50 degrees
at times so we really had to motivate each other to keep training. When
you see your teammates doing it, it helps pull you along and that is what
we did when we were down there."

As a junior this
past year, McGuin came up with another All-MIAA campaign capturing the
league title in the 400 IM with a time of 4:46.94, surpassing her time
from the year before by nearly three seconds. She also finished third
in the 200 IM (2:14.36) and fourth in the 200 butterfly (2:20.89) while
swimming on Calvin's MIAA champion 400 freestyle relay team and its 400
medley and 800 freestyle relay teams that finished second.

McGuin's marquee
eventthe 400 IMis also one of the most demanding. "You
get pretty tired swimming the 400 IM," said McGuin. "The thing
I like about the event is that it has four different strokes. That allows
me to concentrate on making the switch from stroke-to-stroke rather than
on how fatigued I am."
A business/communications major at Calvin, McGuin also qualified for the
NCAA III Championships as a member of Calvin's 400 and 800 freestyle relay
teams. "Going to the national meet will be a new and exciting experience,"
she said. "I'm fortunate to have been on our relays with great teammates
surrounding me."

"My experience
at Calvin has been wonderful and I am glad that I decided to give swimming
another chance," she continued. "I did not realize how much
I missed the sport until I was away from it for a year."